Lengthening maximum mortgage terms show lenders prepared to go further to help prospective homebuyers onto the property ladder in a time of continuing house price inflation, according to MoneyExpert.

The website points also to the announcement from Abbey last week that it would offer certain categories of borrower up to five times their salary in mortgage lending.

MoneyExpert chief executive Sean Gardner commented: "The cost of the average home has doubled in the past five years … It makes sense that lenders are responding by offering greater flexibility to borrowers."

"The old model of three times salary and a mortgage lasting 25 years maximum is on the way out," he affirmed.